India vs Australia 2017: 5 things Australia must do to win in Ranchi

#3 – Score around three runs per over

Shaun Marsh labored at a strike-rate of 33.50 in the first-innings of the Bengaluru Test

At the end of the first day in Bengaluru, Australia could almost feel their hands wrapping over the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, the momentum slowly began to slip away right under their noses in the very next day. Even as the Indian bowlers looked intent on covering up their batting counterparts’ demise, they certainly did not help themselves by plodding along at a sedate pace.

The fact that only 197 runs were scored on the second day provided a window of opening for the hosts to step back into the ring.

Ideally, run-rates/batting strike-rates should not matter in Test cricket. But, on pitches worsening with every delivery, it becomes extremely important to take all you can get. In this regard, Australia should look to replicate their effort in the second-innings in Pune where they scored at 3.27 runs per over.

Since the likelihood of another low-scoring contest is pretty high, the visitors need to shun their newly adopted mantra of batting as long as possible and instead revert to the traditional Aussie way of attempting to score quicker than the opposition.